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Although most of us think we eat pretty well—the odds an adult considers him- or herself a healthy eater are 1 in 1.56 (64%)—cancer remains the second most common cause of death in America, after heart disease.
The odds a person will die from cancer are 1 in 4.7—the same odds that an adult goes out to eat at least once a week (1 in 4.72).
Prominent cases like Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and actor Patrick Swayze have drawn public attention to pancreatic cancer, which has one of the most dismal prognoses in modern medicine.
In 1976, the odds that a woman would be diagnosed with lung cancer in a year were 1 in 3663. The odds for a man were 1 in 1066. By 2006 the lung cancer diagnosis odds for a man dropped slightly to 1 in 1403 and shot up for women to 1 in 1937.
Chances are most people know what pink ribbons mean. Advocates for breast cancer research, spearheaded by groups like Susan G. Komen for the Cure, have stamped the symbol into Americans’ consciousness as they combat the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in women. But what about prostate cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in men?
When New York Times writer Dana Jennings learned that he had prostate cancer in 2008, he discovered a paradox of this disease. Although it’s widespread—the odds that a male in the US will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in his life are 1 in 6.29—people tend not to talk about it.
Pink, the traditional color of baby girls and fairy princesses, has also become synonymous with breast cancer. Pink ribbons pinned to pink t-shirts have certainly contributed to heightened public awareness of the condition, and nationwide events like the hugely popular Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure® and the Yoplait yogurt Save Lids to Save Lives® pink lid campaign allow everyone to get involved.
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